Tim Stauffer believes some of his success this season can be traced back to his stay in the Padres bullpen for most of last season.

“The mentality is different between being a reliever and a starter,” Stauffer said this week.

“At least it was for me. Before I was in the bullpen, I always thought about what I had to do to go seven, eight innings. Coming out of the bullpen, you are immediately focused on that first hitter. The second guy isn’t important if you don’t get the first.

“(Pitching coach Darren) Balsley and I talked about that. When I returned to the rotation, I brought that mentality with me. And I’ve found I can maintain that aggressiveness over an entire start.”

Padres manager Bud Black touched on the subject and the changes in Stauffer in his postgame comments Wednesday.

“His last five games (3-1 with a 1.00 ERA) coincided with a mindset change,” Black said of Stauffer. “Make every pitch count. Feel like you’re going to get an out on every pitch. Don’t set hitters up. Go after them.”

Interesting that Stauffer believes that being in the bullpen helped him as a starter, because Cory Luebke followed the same route to the rotation at the start of this season. Now another promising young starter, Anthony Bass, is at least temporarily the long man in the Padres bullpen.

Coincidence?

Or are the Padres using the long slot in the bullpen as a way to prepare young starters for the jump into the rotation?

The idea isn’t new to the Padres. In fact, it’s a touch old school. But the progression isn’t as common as it once was.

“I think it can be a huge advantage for a young starting pitcher to adjust to the major leagues from the bullpen,” says Black. “It allows the pitcher to get comfortable in a role that can be defined. It’s not the responsibility that comes with going directly into the rotation. It can be a bridge, a way to build confidence and prepare.”

Both Stauffer and Luebke believe they became more “aggressive” in their approach to pitching while interning as a reliever.

“There is a little different mentality coming out of the bullpen,” said Luebke, who made 29 appearances as a reliever this season before getting his first start.

“You can’t hold anything back as a reliever. You have to be more aggressive. You might be in there for only three or four hitters. Last Sunday, as a starter, I told some of that bullpen mentality with me. I didn’t think about pacing myself. I started going after guys.”

Stauffer said being in the bullpen has also altered the way he prepares for games.

“I throw less before the game,” he said. “I’ve found I need fewer pitches to get ready. That was another thing I picked up while I was in the bullpen.”

Heath answers the Bell

In the first three legs of the Padres' four-game winning streak, Mike Adams worked the eighth and Heath Bell closed out the win.

Adams, however, wasn’t available Wednesday afternoon.

Bell did come on in the ninth to pick up his fourth save in as many days for the second time this season, but only the third time in his career.

Who makes the decision when a relief pitcher can go four straight days?

“All it takes for it not to happen is one negative vote,” said Bell, who told bullpen coach Darrel Akerfelds he felt fine after playing catch before Wednesday’s game. Akerfelds passed the information onto pitching coach Darren Balsley, who passed it along to Black.

Bell talked about the importance of the next three weeks to the Padres.

“We’re getting on a roll and it feels really good,” said the closer. “Now we’re gonna go up to Seattle, where we need to win, because they’ve been playing pretty good. Then we go to play the Giants, and that’s really important, and the Dodgers, too.

“Then right after the All-Star Break, we play the Giants again, so these next 14 games are really gonna mean a lot to the organization. If we do really well, maybe we can get back in this race."